Trade unionists promise further protests

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) on Thursday vowed to continue with mass action despite police swooping on dozens of its members gathered in the capital, Harare, to protest high taxes and soaring inflation. ZCTU secretary-general Wellington Chibhebhe, who remained in custody on Thursday, told IRIN the police had arrested 41 union activists in Harare and a number of ZCTU supporters in other cities. Speaking to IRIN from the Harare central police station, Chibhebhe said: "It is still unclear under which law they (the police) will charge us. At first they said we would be charged under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), but then we were also told that we may be charged under the Miscellaneous Offences Act. In any event, we expected this, and these arrests will only strengthen our resolve to continue with our protest." Public demonstrations and protests are effectively illegal under the 2002 POSA, which activists say curtails citizens' rights to freedom of expression. Serious restrictions on the rights of assembly and association have made it difficult for elected representatives to meet with their constituents, because meetings are either declared illegal or disrupted. "We knew the government would not have given us permission to march, so we did not bother requesting permission," Chibhebhe added. ZCTU, the main umbrella body representing labour movements in the country, called for a three-day national strike in April to protest a 200 percent hike in fuel prices that increased urban commuter bus fares. ZCTU argued that workers would have to spend about 60 percent of their monthly wages on transport. Inflation now stands at over 400 percent and a large section of the population is finding basic commodities increasingly unaffordable.